


Decision

by jedipati



Series: Darkness [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Sith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-27
Updated: 2015-04-27
Packaged: 2018-03-25 23:47:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3829396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jedipati/pseuds/jedipati
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anakin Skywalker must make the most important decision of his life.  Obi-Wan can't make it for him, and can only give him advice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Decision

**Author's Note:**

> Yesterday I found a bunch of old stories that- according to my notes on them, were sequels to my story How It Happened. That means they were written sometime in between 2005 and 2008, because I stopped really working on my Star Wars stories around 2008. 
> 
> So, I polished up the first of them, and I think I might work on some of the others as well. I hope you enjoy. This is a long overdue sequel, since I did write How it Happened _ten years ago!_

Anakin Skywalker took a deep breath as he prepared to shift his fighter out of hyperspace. He was returning to Coruscant openly, risking everything in the hopes that Palpatine would know that Anakin wasn’t a Jedi any longer.

“Relax,” Obi-Wan Kenobi said over the com system, his voice distorted slightly by the energy of hyperspace.

Anakin snorted. “That’s easy for you to say. The Chan… Emperor already knows you’ve turned away from the Jedi Order,” Anakin responded.

“He’ll know about you, too, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said. “You know that. And I told him I was going to talk to you, too.”

“I know it in my head, but my heart says that I’m in danger,” Anakin responded.

“What do you mean?” Obi-Wan asked, suddenly intent.

Anakin frowned. “I… I don’t know precisely,” he said. He sighed and reached out through the Force. “There is something that will be very dangerous for me if I don’t do… something. The right thing, or… I don’t know.”

“I suppose you will have to act in the manner you feel is best,” Obi-Wan said. Anakin could just guess that his former Master had shrugged. “I think I know what it is,” he continued. “You’ll be asked to be the apprentice.”

Anakin blinked. “I thought you…”

“I was the apprentice?” Obi-Wan asked, amused. “No. I can’t be the apprentice.”

“Why not?” Anakin asked. It didn’t make any sense. Obi-Wan had turned- he had felt it, on Mustafar. He had managed to turn Anakin. (Though, Anakin admitted to himself, it’s not as if the younger man had put up much of a fight about it.) Obi-Wan was strong enough in the Force that he should have been the Sith apprentice.

“I have my reasons,” Obi-Wan said. “Besides, use of the Dark Side does not make one a Sith. It just makes you stronger.”

Anakin frowned. “What are your reasons?” he asked.

“No. I’m not going to influence your decisions,” Obi-Wan answered.

“Nothing ever stopped you before,” Anakin responded.

“Brat,” Obi-Wan muttered fondly. “This is your decision, Anakin. I can’t make it for you. You have to decide.”

“If he asks… do you think I should say yes?” Anakin asked.

Obi-Wan sighed. “I don’t know, Anakin. It has to be your choice. I will say this: I don’t think I have enough rage to be a Sith, though.”

“I think you do,” Anakin said. “You just have too much control. That was a good thing, when you were an ordinary Jedi, but now it hampers you.”

“I know,” Obi-Wan said. “But you have the rage and hate necessary to be a Sith. And we both know your control isn’t as strong as it could be. Should you become a Sith, Anakin? That’s a choice only you can make.”

“Thanks for the advice,” Anakin said. He meant it. Obi-Wan couldn’t make this decision, and yet he still managed to help.

Anakin looked up as an alarm rang in both cockpits. “Coming up on Coruscant,” Obi-Wan announced. “One minute to revision to normal space.”

“Copy that,” Anakin responded. “Ready to jettison hyperspace ring.”

“Copy.”

In unison, they pushed the levers that sent them back into normal space and over Coruscant. They undocked from the hyperspace rings that were the only way for their Jedi Starfighters to reach faster than light speeds and headed down to the city planet.

Within moments, they were met by a squad of clones in ARC- 170 starfighters. “Jedi Starfighters, stand down or be destroyed.”

“What the… Obi-Wan?” Anakin asked, though he knew precisely what was going on.

“Blast it all!” Obi-Wan responded. “No, captain, we will not stand down. You have no reason to challenge us.”

“Negative on that. All Jedi are to be arrested. If you resist arrest, you will be destroyed.”

“I don’t think so,” Anakin announced. “Obi-Wan, remember that new maneuver I told you about?”

“Ah yes, I do. The one you told me about on Lothal?”

“Yep,” Anakin responded. Lothal was a shorthand for thru and around, but that wasn’t something they had shared with anyone else. Anakin’s talk about a new maneuver was just disguising the important parts of the conversation.

Anakin’s smile was feral. If he had had a chance to look in a mirror, he would have been shocked to find that his eyes had taken on a distinctly yellow tinge.

“NOW!” he shouted. He dove straight at the lead fighter in a more serious version of the childhood game of chicken. When the other fighter didn’t flinch, he pulled up and literally skimmed the fighters. 

He heard Obi-Wan sigh. “You like showing off, don’t you, Anakin?”

He checked his instruments, and Obi-Wan was right beside him. “Hey, anything to get around these… We aren’t firing!” he cut himself off as the clones regrouped and began firing at them.

“I know that!” Obi-Wan shouted back. “Thread the Needle!”

“That’s usually my suggestion!” Anakin responded, even as he sent his fighter straight toward the nearest Star Destroyer.

Obi-Wan matched his movements exactly, as the peerless wingman he was.

“HA HA!” Anakin crowed as they dove down and skimmed the surface of the Destroyer- the _Vigilance_ , one of the ships of their own fleet. He calmed down slightly. “Master- do you remember the blast the _Vigilance_ took during the battle? Over near the hangers?”

“Yes, why?”

“Follow me.”

They sped along the surface of the Destroyer, at some points narrowly missing weapons towers that struggled to track them.

“You know, friendly fire is a contradiction in terms,” Obi-Wan told the clones after a turbolaser disintegrated one of their pursuers.

A volley of curses and laser blasts was his response. “Didn’t I teach them those curses, Master?” Anakin asked as they came up on the damaged portion of the Destroyer. “At least, the Rodian ones.”

“Yes, Anakin, I believe you did. I think I contributed the Corrillian ones, though.”

“Good point,” Anakin said. “I learned those from you, so even if I was the one to teach them…”

“Yes, quite,” Obi-Wan replied, amused.

Anakin checked, but the clones had fallen back, unwilling to risk the turbolaser fire. “You know, we seem to have a fairly clear moment. Do you want to tell me just what is going on?”

Obi-Wan chuckled. “It’s a long story,” he said. Anakin knew that the entire world was listening to them. “You know part of it.”

“Obviously not enough,” Anakin returned. “Like… why are they still firing on us?” he asked in exasperation as he sent his fighter into a barrel roll to avoid a turbolaser blast. “It’s not like we’re returning fire.”

The laser blasts slowed for an instant. Obi-Wan snickered. “They’re under orders, Anakin. Probably something along the lines of detaining all Jedi, at the best.”

“Yes, I got that part,” Anakin said as he glanced over to look through the cockpit of Obi-Wan’s fighter.

Obi-Wan returned the look. “I haven’t really had a chance to tell you why, Anakin,” he said. “And now is not the time for potentially fatally distracting news. Needless to say, the possibility of what we were discussing occurred.”

“What… oh. Oh Sithin’ hells.” Anakin wasn’t sure what, exactly, Obi-Wan was talking about, but he could make a guess based on everything he’d figured out in the past few of days.

Obi-Wan laughed. “That was just about my reaction.”

“Then we should surrender,” Anakin said. “They need to know… we’d never be a part of something like… like… THAT.”

“The Emperor already knows,” Obi-Wan said. “I walked in on the last act. And no, we will not surrender. After our last stunt, we might just get blown out of the sky from spite. No, not from the clones,” he started as Anakin began to protest. “But some of the other pilots out there might be frustrated enough to do so.”

Anakin knew that Obi-Wan was well aware that nearly everyone in the system was listening in, even if they weren’t using the same com channel to plan their strategies. Anakin stifled the urge to laugh out loud. Even now, Obi-Wan was the Negotiator, using words to get them out of a very dangerous situation.

And, just in case that failed, Anakin, the Hero With No Fear, already had a plan to get them around the rest of the fleet and down to Coruscant.

A plan that was very likely not needed. The other fighters were backing off even more, and the larger ships had stopped firing at them. Commander Needa broke into their channel. “General Kenobi, General Skywalker, our apologies. Things are very tense right now.” 

“Apology accepted, Commander Needa,” Anakin said. He wasn’t aware of it, but the yellow in his eyes faded away.

“Just don’t do it again.” Obi-Wan warned Needa- and the rest of the fighters out there.

“Now, what’s going on?” Anakin asked as he brought his fighter to a relative stop near the hanger. “Obi-Wan hasn’t really had a chance to tell me everything. We’ve been a bit busy. I know part of it.”

“Anakin, I know I taught you patience,” Obi-Wan scolded.

Anakin rolled his eyes in exasperation. “I think I’ve been plenty patient, Master.” 

“True,” Obi-Wan said. “But you can wait until we can do this face to face and not over a com system that anyone can hack into. And I’d be very surprised if the entire system wasn’t listening to us right now, hoping to get some classified information from us. Or just gossip.”

Anakin bit back a smile at the subtle scolding Obi-Wan was giving their eavesdroppers. “When you put it that way…”

“Generals, we will provide a shuttle down to Coruscant,” Commander Needa interjected.

“No,” they said in unison.

“We will fly down ourselves, Commander,” Obi-Wan continued. “After our… experiences the past few days, I know I am in no mood to allow someone else to pilot a ship I am in.”

“I quite agree,” Anakin said. “Not now, and probably not for a while.”

“Confirmed,” Needa said. “Your opening should be coming up in point five minutes.”

“Copy that,” Obi-Wan said.

When the time came, they rocketed toward the planet in perfect unison. Anakin smiled slightly.

Back to Coruscant. Back to Padmé. Back home.

But he wouldn’t be able to see her just yet. First, he had to go through this ridiculous charade. No one would know what this really meant, but they’d be watching anyway. He snarled wordlessly, and urged a bit more speed out of his fighter. The sooner this started, the sooner they could get out of the spotlight.

~~~~~~~~~~

Though they didn’t know it, their landing would become one of the defining newsreel images of the era. In that perfect, uncanny unison that they had developed, they flew over the Senate Hall and landed just outside the old Chancellor’s office.

Obi-Wan landed to the left and slightly in front of Anakin, who had settled into his customary place guarding his former master’s right side.

They exited their fighters and moved over to where a small group of senators and the Emperor Palpatine waited for them.

“General Kenobi, it is good to see your mission to Mustafar went well. General Skywalker…” Palpatine sighed in relief. “I am so glad you were not part of the Jedi Rebellion.”

Anakin looked down. “I would never betray the Repub- Empire,” he corrected himself. “And I would certainly not betray the people of the galaxy.” He glanced at the other Senators, briefly (almost unnoticeably) making eye contact with Padmé Amidala.

She looked relieved to see him, though a little confused. She looked less confused then the rest of the senators there. Well, Anakin knew he could explain everything to her later.

“And you, General Kenobi? How did your mission go?”

“Unfortunately, I was unable to arrest the remaining Separatist leaders,” Obi-Wan said. “By the time I arrived, they were dead. It is my guess that they fought amongst themselves. Anakin followed me, and arrived before I could find out anything else.”

“Very well,” Palpatine said. “We will consider the war done.”

The two former Jedi looked at each other and smiled slightly. Anakin knew what had really happened to the Separatist leaders, but he wasn’t about to say anything. He blinked as he realized that Palpatine was still speaking. “I need to speak with the two of you, if you would ignore the mess.”

He led them into his office, dismissing the rest of their welcoming committee over several protests. “It was General Kenobi who discovered and foiled the Jedi plot against my person, gentlebeings. I am safe with these two.”

Anakin glanced around, frowning. The office was, to put it bluntly, an absolute disaster. “What happened?” he blurted out in shock.

Obi-Wan unsuccessfully attempted to stifle a chuckle. “Where do you think the Jedi tried to kill the Chancellor?”

“I knew that,” Anakin said. “But you said that the only damage was the window.”

Obi-Wan glanced around. “You’re right. It is a lot worse then I remember.” He turned to Palpatine, who had stopped at Anakin’s outburst.

The Sith was smiling. “Master Yoda attempted to kill me.”

Anakin winced. “Oh. Ah… oops,” he said sheepishly. He’d completely forgotten about Yoda.

Obi-Wan turned to Anakin. “Yoda survived as well? Did any other Jedi live?”

Anakin sighed. “Not that I’m aware of,” he said. “Yoda and I were picked up by Bail Organa. He knows the truth.” 

Sidious nodded. “Organa will be dealt with For now… Skywalker, what do you intend to do?”

Anakin frowned, but he knew why the Sith Master had called him by his last name. “I don’t know,” he said honestly. “I never expected…” He traded glances with Obi-Wan. “Obi-Wan convinced me to turn. I thought… at the time, I thought he was the Sith Apprentice.”

“Yes… Master Kenobi explained to me why he chose not to become a Sith, and I do agree with him that it is better that he is not Sith.”

“He knows that I am not, Master Sidious,” Obi-Wan said. “Although he does not know my reasons.”

Sidious nodded. “Very well then.” He turned to Anakin. “Will you become the Sith Apprentice? Pledge yourself to my teachings, and learn the ways of the Sith.”

Anakin froze. Obi-Wan had been right. This was the danger he had felt. If he didn’t answer correctly… he closed his eyes and reached out into the Force. How could he answer this? Obi-Wan had always taught him to be strong in the Light… and what had come of that? Obi-Wan had taught him to never give in to the Sith. Obi-Wan… was waiting patiently for his response.

Anakin reopened his eyes. Barely a second had passed as the turmoil had rushed through him. He knew what he had to do.

“Yes,” he said. “I will be your apprentice, my Lord Sidious.”

Sidious smiled. “Good. Kneel before me and accept your position.”

Anakin knelt down. “You are now one with the Sith and you shall be my apprentice, Anakin Skywalker. Amongst our line, and to those who we trust, you will henceforth be known as Darth… Vader.”

Darth Vader bowed his head in acknowledgement. Sidious threw back his head and laughed. “Once more, the Sith rule the galaxy!” he proclaimed.

As he proclaimed the truth, Vader smiled. Off to the side, the only witness to this ceremony, Obi-Wan grinned.


End file.
